Shin’en 2

This will be an interesting development. A satellite going into interstellar space with an Amateur Radio transponder onboard.

Shin’en 2 is a interplanetary satellite built by students at Kagoshima University in Japan that will carry a 145 to 435 MHz linear transponder (mode J) into a deep space heliocentric orbit.

The 2.85 kg spacecraft, measuring 490 × 490 × 475 mm, features a lightweight thermoplastic CFRP structure. It is powered by solar cells on the polyhedral surface of the satellite body. Shin’en 2 will orbit the Sun in an elliptic orbit between Venus and Mars. Its inclination will be almost zero, which means Shin’en 2 will stay in the Earth’s equatorial plane. The distance from the Sun will be between 0.7 and 1.3 AU. (AU is the distance between the Earth and the SUN)

Mission

To establish communication technologies with a long range as far as moon.

To establish a new technology of the ultra-light-weight satellite. Proposing a WSJT 29 dBm UHF downlink and a 29 dBm 20 kHz linear transponder and a CW beacon all on UHF with a VHF uplink for the transponder

Launched. Shin’en 2 is planned to launch in the 4th quarter of 2014 on an H-2A-202 rocket with Hayabusa 2 as the main payload and PROCYON and ARTSAT2:DESPATCH as secondary payloads.

Shin-en2 (JG6YIG) and ARTSAT2-DESPATCH (JQ1ZNN) Launch Postponement The new launch day will be no earlier than December 1 (Mon.), 2014 (JST).

Source Amsat-UK:

A Japanese news report says the asteroid mission Hayabusa 2, planned to launch in December 2014 on a H-IIA rocket, will also carry the amateur radio satellite Abyss 2 (Shin’en 2).

Shin’en 2 is a polyhedron measuring 490×490×475 mm and weighing 17 kg. It was built by students at Kyushu Institute of Technology and carries a Mode J linear transponder for amateur radio communications along with CW and WSJT beacons.

Shin’en 2 will have an elliptic orbit around the Sun and travel to a deep space orbit between Venus and Mars. Its inclination will be almost zero, which means Shin’en 2 will stay in the Earth’s equatorial plane The distance from the Sun will be between 0.7 and 1.3 AU. An Astronomical Unit (AU) is 149,597,871 km.